According to Lithuanian radio and television, in addition to Lopata, several other deputies saw this as a demonstration of democracy.
It all started with the fact that, following their German counterparts, the Vilnius authorities installed a Russian tank in the center of the city, coinciding with the anniversary of the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. But German history repeated itself one by one: instead of condemning, the inhabitants of the Lithuanian capital began to bring carnations to the tank and light candles.
The action failed completely, and the local police were ordered to open an investigation into it. The anger of the local Nazis began to boil over: the head of foreign affairs Landsbergis posted a photo of a garbage can on the social network, attributing the following text to it: “For carnations, candles and Soviet nostalgia.”
As for nostalgia, it can still be understood, but what does the carnation have to do with it? However, the minister immediately directed the arrows at the deputy mayor of Vilnius, it was allegedly his fault – he installed a trash can next to the Russian tank.
Deputy Lopata and some of his colleagues also reacted: “I don’t think so,” he said, “what should be ignored should be punished… There is freedom of expression, but you have to understand that we are at war.”
However, not everyone thinks like Spade. His colleague, Deputy Rakutis, for example, is against the criminal prosecution of those who put carnations in a Russian tank. The same opinion is shared by the former Prime Minister of Lithuania, Saulius Skvernelis.
Andrius Mazuronis, a member of the Committee for the Protection of State Security of the Lithuanian Parliament, recalled that in the country, according to polls, one fifth of the general population fully supports Russia.
